Issue 64 - 01 | The Upstarts Are Here!: What Can You Possibly Learn from Entrepreneurs in Their Twenties? Plenty.
By Donna FennPublished Nov. 12, 2009 4:07 a.m.

“We’re smack in the middle of ‘perfect storm’ conditions for young entrepreneurs, which means that if you haven’t already noticed that the CEO down the road may look more comfortable at the local skate park than in a board room, you will soon. And if you have noticed the trend, you may be asking yourself who these young people are, why they seem to be starting companies at an accelerated rate, what kinds of companies they’re starting, and if they’re really so different from the young entrepreneurs of the past couple of decades. As it turns out, the entrepreneurs of Generation Y (those born between 1977 and the mid-nineties) are really quite extraordinary. So if you are tempted to dismiss business owners in their twenties as self-centered, arrogant dilettantes who approach the start-up process like a teen with a new video game, better think again. Humor me for a few minutes, and consider that you may even have a thing or two to learn from them.”

About Donna Fenn |
Donna Fenn is an internationally recognized author and journalist who has been writing about entrepreneurship and small business trends for more than 20 years. In 2005, she wrote Alpha Dogs: How Your Small Business Can Become a Leader of the Pack, which was translated into Chinese, Japanese, Hindi, and Vietnamese. She is a contributing editor at Inc. magazine. Her new book is entitled Upstarts: How GenY Entrepreneurs Are Rocking the World of Business and 8 Ways You Can Profit from Their Success. In 2001, she was a co-recipient of the Women’s Economic Round Table Entrepreneurship Prize. She has worked as an AP correspondent, and her work has appeared in the New York Times, Newsweek, The Washington Monthly, and many other publications. She lives in Pelham, NY with her husband and three dogs, and is also the proud mom of two amazing GenYers.